Pre Marathon Training – Week 1

After taking a week off of training following the Hotlanta Half Marathon, I was actually really itching to get back at it! Marathon training doesn’t officially kick off until July 11, so the next few weeks will be about continuing to build a base. My goal was to start integrating another day of running into my schedule so that I’m running 4 days a week again. Here’s how the past week went:

Monday:4 miles @ 11:01 pace, 15 minutes hip/glute/core work. It was only 62 degrees out for this run, which felt amazing after the heat and humidity we have had here in Atlanta. I did my run while the sun was rising, and took it nice and easy since I took all of last week off. There have been a couple things going on in my life that have been very emotionally draining, and this run was really helpful and cleansing. I finished with some very light strength training, focusing mostly on hips & glutes. I kept it light because I knew I was going to get a hard one in the next day.

Tuesday: Barre (55 minute class), 30 minutes stationary bike. I got up early and hit Pink Barre for a 55 minute, full body strength training workout. My arms & abs were super tired! After work, I jumped on the stationary bike for some light cross training for 30 minutes. My body was pretty fatigued so I decided to keep it easy. I finished out the day with a nice, hot, Epsom bath.

Wednesday: 5 miles @ 11:25 pace. It was sweaty out there. I’ve been trying to figure out the “longer” routes – I have a 3 miler and a 4 miler, so need to eventually come up with a good 5, 6, and 7 miler for marathon training. I decided to just run down some streets and see what happened. So I went into this neighborhood that is part of my 4 mile route and turned onto a street and ran pretty far down it, then it looped around….and then I was standing at the bottom of a long, slow incline that was so long I couldn’t see the top of it and I was like….F*CK. But I ran up it, then turned, and then I was back to where I had split off. I ran the rest of the route and it came out to almost 5 miles which is great….but that hill was murder. I’m going to need to see if I can find a different 5 mile route!

I made a new playlist of all country music and it was awesome – very relaxing and helped me keep my pace down. I really tried to focus on maintaining the same easy effort throughout the entire run, which was hard because of all the hills, but my paces were pretty consistent.

Also, there is a woman I’ve been seeing running since I started running later. She looks like she is probably my pace or a little slower, we pass each other twice going opposite directions which means she’s likely doing similar distance to me, and probably training for something I’d guess. She’s super friendly and I kind of want to introduce myself to her but how do I do that without being a creeper? Any ideas?

Thursday: 45 minutes stationary bike. I did a rolling hills program while watching Grey’s Anatomy. While I was in grad school, I got very behind on this show and stopped watching. I recently picked it back up on Netflix, but I was a few seasons behind. I’ve been binge-watching like a champ all week and am proud (?) to say that I am now on the last season and should be all caught up soon!

Friday: 4 miles @ 11:14 pace. Since Carrie and I were both working from home, we met up for some miles. It was great because it forced me to go at a conversation pace. It was HOT and HUMID but a great way to start a Friday!

Saturday: 8 miles @ 11:42 pace. I was originally supposed to meet up with my run group, but after an emotionally draining week, I really needed the solo run. I hit up the Silver Comet Trail and it was wonderful! It was super hot (about 80 degrees) but the trail was really shaded. I focused on going slow to compensate for the heat and the run ended up being really, really wonderful.

Sunday: Rest Day. Also known as…binge watching Netflix day. I tried a foot massage place that I hadn’t been to yet and it was pretty good, I will definitely be back during marathon training.

Total Miles for the Week: 21 – It was a good week, I thought I’d be tired from getting back into it, but I really focused on nutrition and I felt pretty good! I also have been getting a little extra sleep since I started working from home, and I think that’s going to make a really big difference later in the cycle.

Jess

Post navigation

3 Comments

Regarding the lady on the route, just wave , stop her and say hello with a smile. Say hey I’m Jess and she will tell you her name and I promise it won’t be weird. I’ve learned that most people are friendly but we’re not used to making friends once we hit adulthood. I used to be the same way but you’ll miss out on some awesome people if you don’t say anything. Hope that helps 🙂